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29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

30 P But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many

sparrows.

• It is in value half-penny farthing, in the original, as being the tenth part of the Roman penny. p 2 Sam. xiv. 11; Acts xxvii. 34.

truly killed as the body, which also at the resurrection shall have its life, sensation, and activity more perfectly restored. It is only upon the basis of the soul's immortality, that a true courage in the way of duty can be built: well might he be excused from suffering for any truth, who has no hope beyond the present life. "That man," says Epictetus, "deserves to be terrified, ažius esi poßeio@ai, who has not learned that he himself is not flesh and bones, but that his proper self is that which uses these, and suitably employs them."

Destroy both body and soul in hell.—The meaning is not that the punishment of bad men in a future life is annihilation; for the word is often used to express continuance in a state of wretchedness, as Matt. xv. 24; and, whatever more modern Rabbins may have thought, the utter destruction of the souls of the wicked in a future state was not the opinion of the Jews of our Lord's age, except of the Sadducees, who, being materialists, made no distinction between the soul and the body. We have, on this point, the sentiment of Philo: "Men think that death is the end of their troubles, whereas it is only the beginning of them. It is the lot of the wicked that they live in death, and suffer as it were continual death."

Verses 29-31. Are not two sparrows old for a farthing? &c.-This passage forcibly and affectingly declares the providence of God as the foundation of an assured trust on the part of the disciples, even in the most perplexed and dangerous circumstances. The connexion of the argument with what precedes is, "Fear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul;" so limited is their

power, so short the arm of your most potent adversary: but this is not the only reason why you ought not to fear these wrathful and tyrannous men; even the limited power they have they cannot exert independently of the divine permission. Their hearts and hands are grasped by an invisible but superior control; and neither in their own time, nor in their own manner, can they injure or destroy you. Either they shall be entirely restrained from injuring you at all, or, when left to follow the impulses of their own bad passions, all results are still under the control of God. Till your work is done, or till your sufferings shall be for his glory and your own advantage, they rage only in a chain which they cannot break. This is supported by a general illustration applicable to the trust and comfort of Christ's true disciples, beyond the immediate occasion which called it forth. Sparrows are mentioned as representing the smallest and most insignificant class of birds, of so little value that two were sold for a farthing, an assarium, about three of our farthings; yet so minute and universal is the providence of God, that nothing to which he has given life dies but by his permission. As in the sermon on the mount God is represented as caring to provide the fowls of heaven with food, so here he is introduced as regulating the production and the extinction of the life of every individual, however small and contemptible. The argument then arises from the less to the greater: ye are of more value than many sparrows; and the if life of an individual bird cannot perish without your Father, how much less the life of a human being, the life of a ransomed child of God, the life of a man sent forth on the greatest work upon

32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

q Luke xii. 8.

earth, to proclaim salvation, and that under God's special commission, as his own ambassador! Nor is the notice and care of God directed to individual persons only, but to whatever concerns that individual, however minute: the very hairs of your head are all numbered. This mode of expression appears to be taken from 1 Sam. xiv. 45: "And the people said, Shall Jonathan die?-God forbid: as the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; " that is, he shall not sustain the least conceivable injury. The very brightness of this revelation of the doctrine of a particular providence has dazzled the eye of mere human philosophy. A general providence it may often admit; but not this condescension of the Divine Being to particulars. The true reason, however, is, that, with all its pretence to high and noble views of God, it, in fact, grovels in low and unworthy conceptions of his wisdom and power; and it knows nothing of his LOVE, his peculiar love to those who trust in him. But, even in right reason, the care of the whole necessarily implies the care of all the parts, however minute; and if it was not beneath God to create the smallest objects, it can never be thought below him to preserve and order them. Nor ought the allegation, that God has established general laws, to be suffered to obscure in our minds the great truth which these words of Christ contain. These general laws depend for their efficiency upon his continued agency; for natural things have no powers which they derive not from him; and these they cannot exercise independently of him; or even that general government of the world which is conceded would be put out of his hand. Ordinarily, there is in God what has been called an ACQUIESCENCE in a common course of events, or rather his power ordinarily works in an observable regular manner; but there is also INTERPOSITION as well as acquiescence, or prayer and in

dividual trust must be expunged from religion, and with them religion itself must lose the great foundations upon which it rests. These then are the noble views which are opened to us by the Divine Teacher. God regulates every thing, however minute, without degradation to his glorious majesty, and without embarrassment to his infinite intelligence. He governs absolutely without violence to the moral freedom of accountable beings, and their contending volitions wonderfully but certainly work out his purposes; but no general arrangement can render his special interposition impracticable, since all is foreseen and all provided for. The true disciple may therefore fully "trust in his mercy:" God himself takes his cause into his hand, orders his steps, weighs out his blessings and his afflictions, wards off his dangers, controls his enemies, disposes all the events of life into a coure of hallowing discipline, and never permits him to fall into the hands of an enemy except when by that means some good to the church, and some benefit to the suffering disciple himself, are to be accomplished by it; so that, even then, “he maketh the wrath of man to praise him." This may often take place by an inscrutable process; but the result is certain.

Verse 32. Confess me, &c.-To confess Christ is openly to acknowledge our faith in him, and publicly to observe the rules and ordinances of his religion. Oμoλoye properly signifies, to use the same language or words as another; and hence, says Wahl, in the New Testament, by implication, "to profess the same things as another, to admit what another professes." He, therefore, who publicly and courageously confesses Jesus to be what he professed to be, that is, the Christ, and acts suitably to that belief, him will Christ publicly confess to be what he himself professes to be; that is, a true disciple of Christ. See the note on Luke xii. 8.

33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

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34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

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37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

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38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

r Mark viii. 38; Luke ix. 26; 2 Tim. ii. 12. 8 Luke xii. 51. t Micah vii. 6. u Luke xiv. 26. v Matt. xvi. 24; Mark viii. 34; Luke ix. 23.

Verse 34. To send peace, but a sword. -Those who refer this to the Roman sword, which, about forty years after Christ's ascension, desolated Judea, forcibly break off the words from their connexion. From the persecutions which our Lord predicted should be excited against his religion, he proceeds to declare the dissensions of which, through the guilty passions of men, it should be the innocent occasion; a prophetic declaration equally remarkable as the former, and an effect which had no exact parallel in the previous history of man; so that, to foretel this, as the consequence of the introduction of a religion of pure benevolence and charity, could only result from a certain prescience of the future. As to the mode of expression used, it is to be observed, that in the Hebrew idiom one is said to do that which he is the occasion of being done, however undesigned by him, nay, though directly contrary to his intentions. Thus Isaiah is commanded to "make the heart of the people fat, and their ear heavy," because the mission on which he was sent would have that effect, through the criminal obstinacy of his hearers; and Jeremiah calls himself "a man of strife and contention to the whole land," because the delivery of his exhortations and reproofs had occa

sioned great strife against himself among the exasperated rulers. Attention to these peculiarities in the style of speaking which obtained among the Hebrews, is absolutely necessary to a right interpretation of many passages; and, for want of it, some very false conclusions have been drawn from the texts in which they occur. To apply this to our Lord's words: the end of Christ's coming was unquestionably to establish peace on earth; but because sharp dissensions, and the alienation of friends and families, have often been the result, through the violent enmity of the carnal mind to truth and holiness, he represents himself, according to the ori ental mode of speaking, as having sent, not PEACE, but a swORD, and as setting a man at variance with his father, &c.

Verse 38. That taketh not his cross and followeth, &c.-There is an allusion here to the custom of the Romans, who compelled those who were to be crucified to bear the cross on which they were to suffer to the place of execution; but, as crucifixion was not a Jewish punishment, and even if the power of life and death had now been taken away from the Jews by the Romans, this was but a recent event, it can scarcely be thought that they had become so familiar with it as that "to take the cross" should have al

39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

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40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

41 He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.

w John xii. 25.

ready become proverbial for the endurance of sufferings. The notion of Grotius, that the Jews had the phrase from the Persians, who used that punishment, can scarcely be admitted, because it was long since the Persians had had any power in Judea, and even then the Jews were permitted to use their own laws and customs. The words of our Lord had probably a prophetic reference to the manner of his own death, and had a meaning therefore which was to be hereafter more fully explained. He was to take his cross, and endure this barbarous Roman punishment; and he here declares, that every one who is not willing to follow him in this respect, that is, to die for the truth, is not worthy of him, that is, not worthy of him as his Lord and Master, or to be called his disciple. The cross stands for DEATH, in its most frightful and ignominious forms, but includes all other minor sufferings to be endured for the truth; but it is ridiculous to apply this phrase of taking up the cross, as is often done, to express subinission to some little mortification of our will, or to some duty not quite agreeable to our views and feelings. By a careless habit of using the language of scripture, the force of many important passages of scripture is silently undermined.

Verse 39. He that findeth his life, &c.To find and to lose here signifies the same as to save and to lose. Hence in Prov. xxix. 10, we read, "the just shall SEEK his soul;" shall seek it successfully; that is, shall find it: in other words, shall save or preserve it. We have here another instance of that enigmatical manner of

x Luke x. 16; John xiii. 20.

speaking often adopted by our Lord, especially when he uses strong antitheses; and which gives them so great a force. The term LIFE is manifestly used in two senses, both for the animal life, and the immortal soul: "he that findeth or saveth his bodily life by cowardly desertion of my cause, shall lose his life," or soul, that is, the felicity of the immortal principle in man; and he that loseth his bodily life for my sake, shall find or save his life, that is, his soul, which shall be raised to the blessedness of a higher and future life. The paranomasia in this instance was favoured by the original word "x", which signifies both life and soul, as also does the Syriac word. It is a somewhat striking remark of Tertullian, with reference to our Lord's phrases, to save life, and to lose it for his sake, that the heathen judges, when they would persuade a Christian to renounce his faith, made use of these terms, Serva animam tuam, “Save your life;" and, Noli animam tuam perdere, 'Do not throw your life away."

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Verse 41. A prophet in the name of a prophet.-That is, to receive a Christian teacher in the name of, or in consideration of his being a Christian teacher, a servant of Christ, and a publisher of his messages, and not merely from common hospitality, or personal friendship, or for his parts and eloquence; but, as it is expressed in the preceding verse, receiving Christ himself in and by him who represents Christ as his ambassador. He shall receive a prophet's reward; a reward proportioned to the office which is held by him who is received, and which he that receives honours. There is here, no doubt,

42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

CHAPTER XI.

2 John sendeth his disciples to Christ. 7 Christ's testimony concerning John. 18 The opinion of the people, both concerning John and Christ. 20 Christ upbraideth the unthankfulness and unrepentance of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum: 25 and praising his Father's wisdom in revealing the gospel to the simple, 28 he calleth to him all such as feel the burden of their sins.

1 AND it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.

2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,

y Mark ix. 41.

an allusion to the special benefits conferred upon several persons mentioned in the Old Testament, who received the prophets in ancient times; as the hostess of Elijah, whose barrel of meal did not waste, and whose cruse of oil did not fail, until the famine of the land ceased; and the two instances in which the deceased children of those who entertained prophets were restored to life, one by Elijah, the other by Elisha. Similar rewards are not intended; but still great rewards either in time or eternity, and sometimes in both.

A righteous man.-That is, a private Christian who bears not the office of a minister of Christ. In the early times especially, it was necessary for Christians to practise a liberal hospitality towards each other, by opening their houses to believing travellers, lest they should be exposed to mix with idolaters. To such acts Christ promises a blessing, provided every such righteous man be received as a righteous man; that is, in respect of his faith in Christ, and his relationship to him as one of his disciples. Even should he prove a hypocrite, yet being received as a sincere disciple of Christ, the host shall not lose his reward.

Verse 42. A cup of cold water.-An ac

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a Luke vii. 18.

ceptable gift to the thirsty traveller in those countries, and often not easily to be procured but by the benevolence of hospitable persons. Yet where water was abundant, as in cities, it was a present of small value. Some poor persons indeed might have no more to give; yet, being offered in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, it shall in no wise lose its reward. In the Talmud it is said, that whoever entertains a man well instructed in the law, and causes him to eat and drink, shall be more blessed than the house of Obed Edom was for the ark's sake; for the ark neither ate nor drank with him. This as well as many other sayings, similar to those of our Lord, we may again remark, were in all probability borrowed from the New Testament, with which the wise men among the Jews in former times were very conversant. Thus they have imitated the words of Christ in verse 29 of this chapter, saying, "A bird without God does not perish; much less, a man: a bird without God does not fly away; much less, the soul of a man;" with many other instances. Our Lord here calls his disciples his little ones, oi μikgoi, referrring either to the humble condition of the disciples, as Beza thinks; or, probably, as Kuinoel

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